Five members of a family of a retired army doctor allegedly committed suicide inside a flat in Jharkhand’s capital Ranchi on Saturday night, police said on Monday.

The entrance to Dr Sarkar’s house in Marvel apartments, Sector 61, Noida.(HT)

Five members of a family of a retired army doctor allegedly committed suicide inside a flat in Jharkhand’s capital Ranchi on Saturday night, police said on Monday.

Sixty-three-year-old Shukant Sarkar, who also tried to end his life by stabbing himself with a knife, was found in a critical condition when the police arrived. He was rushed to a hospital.

The bodies of Sarkar’s wife Anjana, 60, his son Samir Sarkar, 35, granddaughters Samita, 7, and Sumita, 5 and another daughter-in-law Momita were found lying in two rooms of a flat of Riversa Apartment on old Hazaribagh road. Police have recovered several suicide notes from the spot.

The injured doctor and his family members lived in Noida in Uttar Pradesh where Samir used to work in a private company. They had come to the flat, which belongs to his sister’s son and well-known dentist Dr S Chowdhary, on October 6 to settle a marital dispute between Samir and his wife.

They had come from Noida to Ranchi a few days ago.

Dr Chowdhary rang up the family several times in the morning but did not get a response. He found the doors of his flat locked when he came to see the family and opened the door with a duplicate key. He found the bodies lying in two rooms and Dr Sarkar alive.

He called the police and city superintendent of police (SP) Kishore Kaushal arrived at the spot with his team and rushed the injured doctor to a hospital. However, reports said his condition was critical.

Police said that a syringe and some medicine have also been found from the flat suggesting that Dr Sarkar may have injected the medicine into other members of his family and then tried to commit suicide by stabbing himself.

Dr Chowdhary said that Sarkar and his family members were under mental stress due to the dispute between Samir and his wife. He said that Samir’s wife had levelled grave allegations against the doctor’s family.

“The family was thinking of taking legal action against Samir’s wife. However, they have taken this extreme step. In one of the suicide notes, the daughter-in-law and another member have been mentioned as responsible for the family taking this step,” Chowdhary said.

SP Kaushal said that prime facie it appears to be a case of suicide that was pre-planned. He said that five of the deceased had no apparent injury marks on their body adding that post-mortem would ascertain the cause of the death. He added that an investigation has been launched into the case.

Noida neighbours in shock

Dr Sarkar and his wife Anjana lived in Marvel Homes’ B block at Sector 61 in Noida. Sameer lived in the A block of the same society with his wife and daughters. The residents’ welfare association said they had moved in two years back.

Neighbours of retired army doctor are in shock after the news of his family’s death. They also claimed that the Sarkars had differences with their daughter-in-law, who wanted to stay away from them, which eventually led to the rift.

“They did not have good relations with their daughter-in-law,” a neighbour said requesting anonymity.

A neighbour said Sarkar and his family were seen together only during Durga Puja events. However, this time, their house was locked from outside.

“We don’t know much about their family matter but they were less outgoing. We had seen them interacting with neighbours only a couple of times,” Dr Virendra Singh, RWA president, said.

All the family members, except Madhumita, left for Ranchi on October 6. “Madhumita is also not here. She may have left for Ranchi or some relative’s place,” the neighbour said.

Noida police said they are unaware of the incident.

“Neither of their relatives has approached us nor the Ranchi police have contacted us so far,” Dinesh Yadav, superintendent of police, said.